Although Pasic supported the main objectives of the Black Hand group, he did not want the assassination to take place as he feared it would lead to a war with Austro-Hungaria. Unknown to Dragutin Dimitrijevic, Major Voja Tankosic, was informing Nikola Pasic, the prime minister of Serbia about the plot. They all agreed they were willing to give their life for what they believed was a great cause: Bosnia-Herzegovina achieving independence from Austro-Hungary. Princip, Cabrinovic and Grabez were all suffering from tuberculosis and knew they would not live long. The three men were instructed to commit suicide after Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been killed as it was important to Dimitrijevic that the men did not have the opportunity to confess that members of the Serbian Army were involved in the assassination. Each man was given a revolver, two bombs and small vial of cyanide. When it was announced that Franz Ferdinand was going to visit Bosnia in June 1914, Dimitrijevic began to make plans to assassinate him.ĭragutin Dimitrijevic, and his fellow conspirators, Milan Ciganovic and Major Voja Tankosic, sent three members of the Black Hand group based in Belgrade, Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Trifko Grabez, to carry out the deed. He was worried that Ferdinand's plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs would make an independent Serbian state more difficult to achieve.
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Dimitrijevic considered Franz Ferdinand a serious threat to a union between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. The leader of the group was Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the chief of the Intelligence Department of the Serbian General Staff.
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Zerajic was a member of the Black Hand (Unity or Death) group who wanted Bosnia-Herzegovina to leave the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ferdinand was aware that in 1910 a Serb, Bogdan Zerajic, had attempted to assassinate General Varesanin, the Austrian governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina, when he was opening parliament in Sarajevo. A large number of people living in Bosnia-Herzegovina were unhappy with Austrian rule and favoured union with Serbia. If Austria-Hungary had moved quickly to deal with the Serbs, not even Russia would have intervened on Serbia's behalf.General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina, invited Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Inspector of the Austro-Hungarian Army, and his wife, Sophie von Chotkovato, to watch his troops on maneuvers in June, 1914.įranz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, knew that the visit would be dangerous. Strong suspicions of Serbian complicity in the assassination existed throughout Europe, and the German government gave unconditional support to Austria-Hungary for any actions that it might take against the Serbs. Four of the five great powers were monarchies, and they saw the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne as an indefensible act of brutality. The initial reaction in Europe was one of universal shock and horror.
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On the afternoon of 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot and killed both Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie as their motorcade passed through the streets of Sarajevo. He dispatched three Serbian-trained Bosnian terrorists, Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabez, and Nedjeljko Cabrinovic, to assassinate the Archduke during a state visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Royal Serbian Army's chief of intelligence, Lieutenant-Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, was also a member of a secret terrorist organization, the "Black Hand." With the prospect of the liberal-minded Franz Ferdinand assuming the throne at any time, Dimitrijevic determined that Serbian interests could only be advanced by the death of the Archduke. They also promised to seriously undermine the Serbian goal of incorporating these provinces into "Greater Serbia." The last thing the Serbs wanted to see was contented Slavs within the empire. These reforms, which included the granting of a substantial degree of autonomy to the Slavic minorities within the empire, had the potential to satisfy nationalist sentiments among the Bosnians, Croats, and Slovenians while offering them economic benefits and security within Austria-Hungary. The Archduke had publicly announced his intention to introduce many reforms once he came to the throne. His father, Emperor Franz Josef, was 84 years old and in failing health.
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In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.